Requiem For The Master
by darkestboy
Summary: The Doctor grieves for the master but is his old enemy actually dead? Set after Last Of The Time Lords.


**Name: **Requiem For The Master  
**Characters: **10th Doctor, The Master, Lucy Saxon, Daleks, Davros  
**Synopsis: **The Doctor finds a secluded area to burn the Master's corpse and grieve for his enemy in private. However when he leaves, Lucy ensures that the Master rises from the flames. Unfortunately for the both of them, an old enemy way up in the sky has an agenda that will involve them.

Grief came in many forms. Being over 900 years old, the Doctor of all people knew that little nugget all too well. Usually when you stop a madman from destroying all of humanity with a lot of help from your friends you're supposed to be feeling victorious. That would be the most natural of responses.

_Then why do I feel like someone has torn a limb from me?_The Doctor knew exactly why he felt this way. For all the evil and destruction that the Master had caused, he couldn't help but feel grief.

The Doctor was usually good at concealing some of his biggest emotions and anxieties from those he travelled with. He respected and cherished many of the companions he's had over his last few regenerations but he never allowed himself to be emotionally naked with any of them. Even Rose wasn't fully versed of how much the devastation of the Time War had really affected him.

The Doctor had set up the Master's body on a pyre and covered him in a white shroud. It was customary and even someone as evil as the Master deserved a dignified cremation. The Doctor couldn't help but think that the Master would appreciate this method instead of a traditional burial. The Master always did like to light the candle at both ends.

In his head a series of flashbacks had been playing through the Doctor's mind on a repeated loop. The first had included the Master cruelly ageing him as Martha had reluctantly fled the Valiant and Jack had been nearly killed. He could remember the pleasure the Master and Lucy had both taken in taking him captive.

The next flashback had been when the Master dragged him out of the Valiant deck and into his bedroom. The Doctor had been bound and gagged and roughly thrown onto a chair as the Master engaged in a little mental torture. The Doctor had remembered pleading inaudibly through the gag with the Master to stop and then watched as his enemy took pleasure in upping the agony just that little bit more. The Master had invaded a lot of his private thoughts and deepest fears in order to make him suffer and laughed when he had succeeded in making the Doctor cry for the second time during that particular day.

_Those two memories combined should make me thrilled to light up this pyre and watch him burn. It should make me hope that there's almost a part of him that would be able to feel the flames scorching his entire body until he's nothing but bones and the remnants of his clothing but it doesn't and it never will_.

However neither of them compared to the last flashback looping through the Doctor's mind. It was the moment in which the Doctor had vowed to take on the Master as his responsibility rather than allow the Jones family to execute him. It was the same moment that Lucy had chosen to shoot him in cold blood. The Doctor had begged the Master to regenerate but even when he was trying to help the Master out, his former friend stuck the knife in by allowing himself to die.

Once again the Doctor had lost something he cared about. He really was the last of his kind and it saddened him. He then picked up the torch and lit the shrouded body of the Master and simply watched as it began to burn. With no-one there to bear witness, the Doctor knew he could be emotionally naked once again. Wiping the treacle of tears in his eyes, the Doctor's eulogy flowed naturally.

"I should hate you; anyone else in their right mind would. You humiliated me like no-one else could, tried to kill my friends and destroy the Earth but I'm here grieving for you no less. As much as I know the world is a better place without you in it, I still wish you didn't die. Maybe you can finally find some peace. Perhaps Lucy really did do you a favour by killing you. Goodbye."

With that, the Doctor knew it was time to walk away. He had done everything he needed to under the circumstances. He had given the Master a decent send off; he had been able to air his feelings without having to feel guilty or be accused of having Stockholm Syndrome by Jack. By doing this, he would be able to face both Jack and Martha and see how they were coping. He owed the both of them his life and he was going to make sure that they both knew how grateful he was to have them as companions.

Lucy had waited ten minutes until she was fully sure that the Doctor had left the blazing inferno. She had been hiding not too far away and almost cursed aloud when she overheard the Doctor's eulogy. She thought he had too much of a knack for preaching. Then she amused herself with thinking about the many ways the Doctor would react when her plan works.

Using an extinguisher to get rid of the flames, Lucy stared at the charred remains of her husband. She then took out the ring from her hair and attached it to the Master's wedding finger. She could hear drumming herself as energy from the ring began to seep into the corpse.

Soon some of the charred features began to slowly resemble flesh and clothing but  
only on a minute level. The Master had told her that this would be a lengthy process but seeing that neither he nor Lucy were the most patient of people, he also gave her a little plan B involving the laser screwdriver.

In case of emergency the Master had programmed the laser screwdriver to respond to Lucy with a gentle press on the control, she accelerated the inevitable. The pace in which charred remains were becoming flesh and clothing had now rapidly increased.

Within three minutes the Master was now back to his physical best. He gasped for air and darted his eyes at everything within touching distance. He then bolted up off the pyre in a Frankenstein esque moment but as soon as his feet touched the ground, he began to feel a little dizzy and Lucy had to stop him from falling.

Still gasping for air, the Master turned to his wife determinedly and asked, "Where's the Doctor?"

Lucy looked a little affronted by the question but decided to put her resentment towards the Doctor aside to answer her husband's query. She knew she stood no chance in eradicating her husband's obsession with the Doctor.

"He's gone, Harry. We don't have to worry about him."

Feeling better, the Master broke from Lucy's grip and walked along the beach looking like a lost child. These surroundings were unfamiliar to him. The Master knew exactly what the Doctor had said to him. Right now all the Master could think about was getting a hold of the Doctor and kick starting Round Two. This was one defeat he wasn't going to take lying down.

Gritting his teeth in anger, the Master turned to his wife. "Maybe if I start firebombing this stinking planet, he'll come back in a flash. That man has bested me for the last time."

Lucy wasn't listening. Something else had taken over her focus. Without looking at him, she called out to her husband, somewhat anxiously.

"Harry, I think we've got something else to worry about."

The Master wasn't in the mood to be dealing with his wife's anxiety but he could see a bunch of mutated pigs/humanoid type of creatures advancing towards him and Lucy. There were at least three of them and the Master grabbed his wife's hand, like he had seen the Doctor grab so many of his companions and said just one word, almost mythically.

"Run."

The Master and Lucy ran as fast as they could but the Pig Slaves were surprisingly quicker than he had anticipated them to be. When the Master felt his feet going from under him and Lucy had stopped to help him, they were caught. The Pig Slaves tied their hands behind their backs and threw bags over their heads and dragged them off the beach.

It had been obvious to the Master that he and Lucy were being taken to a spaceship. Once on the spaceship, their bonds were untied and the bags covering their heads were removed. The Pig Slaves just walked away, leaving the evil Time Lord and his wife to take in their new surroundings.

The Master looks suitably impressed with the black, red and gold colour scheme of the ship. The area they were in looked to be three times the size of the deck of the Valiant but the Master's joy turned to annoyance when he saw a Dalek coming out of the shadows. If there was one thing other than the Doctor that confounded the Master, it was a Dalek. Lucy on the other hand looked somewhat confused. During their eighteen months as a couple and then as man and wife, the Master hadn't told her everything about the Daleks. She'll soon learn that when it comes to being bad, this lot were capable of putting him to shame.

The Dalek pointed its gun at both the Master and Lucy. The Master looked at the creature with disdain.

"You will come with me."

"And if I refuse?"

"The female will be exterminated. You will be exterminated."

There was a million different ways the Master wanted to respond to that threat. He wanted to taunt the Dalek and tell it that he would regenerate into something far more dangerous. He wanted to tell the Dalek that unlike the Doctor he wasn't scared of it but that last one would've been a lie. Instead he grudgingly put his hands in surrender as did Lucy and allowed it to lead them into another part of the ship.

Leading into what obviously looked like a cell of some sort, the Master could see a half assembled Dalek in a red casing. Lucy looked somewhat intrigued and when she went to take a closer look, the Master pulled her back in spite of himself.

In the shadows he could see another creature. It was definitely a Dalek and it was also opened out. The Master thought he could hear it giggling incessantly and even saw tentacles wiggling about as if the thing was going to burst into song. Seeing all of this however inspired annoyance.

The Master had spent the good part of a year making the Doctor his pet and subjugating the Earth. There was no way in hell that he would allow either himself or Lucy to be bestowed a similar fate. Losing out to the Doctor was enough of a humiliation. Losing out to a bunch of Daleks wasn't going to happen.

Waving his hands impatiently, slowly walking around and darting his eyes across as if he was looking for something, the Master was determined to get some answers of his own. Lucy just watched, unsure of what to do.

"Okay you've caught me, I'm very impressed but I don't do the "hide behind the shadows" routine so unless you tell me why I'm here in the next minute, I'm going to start making this universe a Dalek free zone. No? Anyone? Nothing? Don't think I won't do it." Then getting riled the Master took out his laser screwdriver and shot it at the half-assembled red Dalek, shattering the casing.

Suddenly another voice boomed in the room and it was equally as riled as the Master had been.

"You'll pay for that, Master. And to think, I thought the Doctor was an almighty pest."

Intrigued by the mention of his greatest foe, the Master could see that a figure was emerging from the shadows a little too slowly for his personal liking. Still at least the Master would be able to put a face to the threat he now faced.

"Who are you?"

Completely out of the shadows now, the Master could see who his new foe was and he hated to admit that it worried him a little. This shouldn't be possible. After all, Time War history would contradict it. However the present foe made sure the Master knew exactly who he was.

"Davros."

The most evil of creators alongside the most evil of Time Lords. Even the Master had to admit that something like this couldn't have been made up. Davros smiled, revealing his decaying teeth as his soon to be partner in crime watched him in suspicion.

"I believe you and I have a common goal. He's named the Doctor. Do you want to see him destroyed forever?"

The Master smiled, considering the question. He was of two minds about this particular offer. He could get exactly what he wanted but would have to work with someone that he already despised upon just meeting. Then again, he could also get rid of two problems at once if he played it smart. Either way, there was no denying that things had automatically become more interesting than they were minutes ago.

- The End -


End file.
